The Ministry of Power has established a new platform called Advanced Industrial Technology Demonstration Center (AITDC) for industry stakeholders to demonstrate and exchange knowledge on new energy-efficient technologies in the country.

The new center, also called Unnat Takniki Pradarshan Kendra (UTPRERAK), is expected to promote clean technologies and enhance energy efficiency in the country through knowledge sharing and demonstrations of new technologies.

Inaugurated at the National Power Training Institute (NPTI) campus in Badarpur, New Delhi, by Union Minister of State for Power, Shri Krishan Pal, the UTPRERAK center is expected to become a leading reference and resource institution for industrial energy-efficient technologies.

The ministry announced it would serve as an exhibition cum information center, a knowledge repository, and a platform for knowledge exchange through workshops and seminars, facilitating the dissemination of best practices among industry professionals.

The center will provide inputs for national energy policy formulation, foster linkages between education and research in energy-efficient solutions, and develop innovative applied solutions to enhance energy efficiency further.

Over the next five years, UTPRERAK will provide intensive training to more than 10,000 energy professionals from various sectors, serving as a strategic capacity-building institution.

The center will offer comprehensive programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of industry personnel, contributing to India’s goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047.

Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Alok Kumar, highlighted the importance of introducing new technologies in energy-intensive sectors such as iron and steel, cement, paper, chlor-alkali, and textiles.

The center will comprise three demonstration halls dedicated to showcasing technologies for these designated sectors.

Energy-efficient technologies to be featured at the center include pre-processing systems for alternative fuels and raw materials, waste heat recovery systems, and arrangements for feeding alternative fuels and raw materials into kilns and calciners, will be featured at the center.

Under the guidance of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the UTPRERAK Center will collaborate with renowned research institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM), Central Pulp & Paper Research Institute (CPPRI), National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology (NISST), and textile research associations.

A memorandum of understanding has also been signed between BEE and NPTI, facilitating collaboration and knowledge-sharing between the two entities.

Additionally, the center will function as a regional hub for research and development activities in clean energy technologies, focusing initially on identified sectors and gradually expanding to other energy-intensive sectors.

Recently, Karnataka topped the State Energy Efficiency Index for the second year running with an overall score of 82.5 points out of 100 on impactful measures taken in improving energy efficiency in the state.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that energy efficiency actions taken since 2000 have ensured that the energy bills in IEA-monitored countries in 2022 were set to be $680 billion less than they would have been otherwise.

The Ministry of Power has revised the Biomass Co-Firing Policy to benchmark the prices for biomass pellets utilized in co-firing at thermal power plants. The decision was prompted by the changing market conditions for biomass pellets and numerous requests from stakeholders such as thermal power plants, pellet manufacturers, farmers, bankers, and others.

The benchmark price will consider factors like economic viability, impact on electricity rates, and the efficient procurement of pellets by power utilities.

By implementing a benchmark price for pellets, the Ministry expects the thermal power plants and pellet vendors to help establish a sustainable supply mechanism for co-firing.

The final benchmark price, determined by the committee under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), will come into effect from January 1, 2024.

Until the committee’s recommendations are implemented, power utilities can opt for short-term tenders to fulfill the immediate demand for biomass pellets in their thermal power plants.

According to the Union Power Minister, R.K. Singh, the government considers the co-firing of biomass in coal-based power plants as a crucial policy for enhancing energy security, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and simultaneously increasing farmers’ income.

The revised policy is expected to accelerate the achievement of these objectives.

Due to the limited availability of torrefied biomass pellets in the country, the revised policy mandates power utilities to procure torrefied pellets only in exceptional scenarios and when it is technically unavoidable. Utilities that can use non-torrefied pellets should exclusively utilize them.

Torrefied pellets, also called black pellets, are a densified biofuel made from thermally treated solid biomass, with or without additives.

Under the biomass policy, which requires the co-firing of biomass with coal in thermal power plants, approximately 180,000 MT of biomass fuel has been co-fired in 47 thermal power plants across the country, with a combined capacity of 64,350 MW.

During the first two months of FY24, more than 50,000 MT has been co-fired, surpassing the previous record for annual quantity.

Furthermore, around 114 million MT of biomass pellets are currently at various stages of the tendering process, and thermal power plants have already placed purchase orders for approximately 6.9 million MT of biomass pellets.

With supportive policies in place and the Ministry of Power’s emphasis on the Sustainable Agrarian Mission on the use of Agro-residue in Thermal Power Plants (SAMARTH) mission, significant growth in biomass co-firing in thermal power plants throughout the country is anticipated.

The SAMARTH program helps tackle the challenges of stubble burning on Indian farms and the heavy carbon emissions in coal-fired power plants by biomass co-firing.

Last November, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy notified the National Bioenergy Program, valid from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26. The program has been recommended for implementation in two phases. A budget outlay of ₹8.58 billion (~$104.66 million) has been approved for Phase-I.

In July last year, the Ministry noted that biomass co-firing in 35 thermal power plants across India had reduced CO₂ emissions by 100,000 tons. About 80,525 tons of biomass had been co-fired in 35 thermal power plants with a cumulative capacity of 55,335 MW until July 24, 2022.

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Renantis, an Italy-based energy company, and Ventient Energy, a renewable power company based in the UK, have agreed to merge into a new independent power producer (IPP) with a combined total installed renewables capacity of over 4.2 GW and an extensive 18 GW pipeline.

The integration process has commenced, and the companies anticipate operating as a unified entity by 2024.

The two renewable energy companies, owned by institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management, are poised to become one of Europe’s top five onshore wind IPPs with the new company.

Together, these organizations possess a diverse portfolio of onshore wind farms, solar projects, and energy storage facilities across nine countries in Europe and the U.S.

The joint development pipeline encompasses various projects such as onshore wind, floating offshore wind, solar, energy storage, and green hydrogen initiatives.

The unified entity workforce will comprise 750 employees from Renantis and 250 from Ventient Energy.

“This is an exciting milestone in the growth of our companies. The existing synergies and complementary expertise will allow us to reach yet untapped potential. Standing alone, our businesses are making positive steps to accelerate the energy transition and build a more sustainable energy future. But together, those steps become strides, which we can transform into future leaps,” said Kevin McCullough, ad interim CEO of Ventient Energy.

Renantis, formerly known as Falck Renewables, underwent a rebranding following its recent acquisition and has been actively engaged in renewable energy since 2002. Renantis presently operates nearly 70 renewable energy projects, with a substantial capacity of 1,420 MW.

Moreover, the company possesses an extensive project pipeline of 17 GW, including 8.6 GW of floating offshore wind projects under development—5.5 GW in Italy and 3.1 GW in the UK.

Ventient Energy is a pan-European renewable energy business possessing an installed onshore wind capacity of 2.8 GW.

With integrated energy market solutions across 145 sites, Ventient Energy is actively developing wind and solar colocation projects in Iberia while having a colocation development pipeline exceeding 1 GW of solar.

In May last year, Ventient Energy acquired a 443 MW renewable portfolio in the Spanish region of Castilla y Leon. The portfolio comprised 203 MW of onshore wind and 240 MW of solar capacity to develop at the onshore wind sites.

A total of 27 solar M&A transactions were recorded in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 38 in Q4 2022 and 29 solar M&A transactions in Q1 2022, according to Mercom’s Q1 2023 solar funding and M&A report.